


Tony Stark is a Dad?

by xlittlemissashx



Series: What Happens in the Middle. [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Dad!Tony Stark, Family, Gen, Kinda, My First Fanfic, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Team Cap - Freeform, Team Iron Man, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-09-24 19:31:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9781976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xlittlemissashx/pseuds/xlittlemissashx
Summary: A few months post CA:CW Tony needs a break, so he decides to hold a science summer camp consisting of him, Peter, Harley, and occasionally Bruce and Rhodey. It's all fun and games until the tabloids take advantage of a little day out.





	1. Tony Stark is a Dad?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first time posting something here, I haven't really written anything before so yay for trying new things. I'm thinking of making a series of one shots post-CA:CW. I don't plan on having a plot line or anything like that, just a bunch of random moments, so I can practice my writing. If anyone wants to post a prompt I can try my hand at that too? Oh and comments and critiques please? Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! And here's to hoping I get better at titles as time goes on :P

Tony was used to being in the spotlight. It was basically his birthright. The media scrutinized every move he made and always played it up to be bigger than it was. So, he thought he was prepared for every headline they could throw at him after dealing with them for what seems like his entire life. However, he was certainly proved wrong by today’s trending topic.

‘Spotted: Tony Stark and his Illegitimate Sons’

No matter how he flipped, shook, and tapped his StarkPad it never changed. Even with FRIDAY displaying all the news outlets reporting this – and it was every news outlet, even freaking CNN – he still couldn’t wrap his mind around how this came to be. His face was the definition of confusion, shock, and complete and utter WTF which only managed to make Rhodey laugh even harder while trying not to tip over with his new braces. Peter and Harley were also having the time of their lives, sitting down at one of the tables in the lab, flipping through the different tags on twitter: #PapaStark #DaddyTony #SINewHeirs. Even Bruce was trying, and failing, to hide his laughter behind his hand as he read the tweets over their shoulders.

_Yesterday_

“You guys can’t possibly be planning to spend the entire summer down here.”

Three heads turned simultaneously at the sound of a female voice entering the workshop. Actually, it was probably the smell of food that caught their attention, but the fire-cracker red-head was definitely a close second.

“Pepper! You brought sustenance!” Tony called, placing his screwdriver down from where he was working inside the suit. “Come children, we have provisions.”

Pepper gave one of her ‘I am not amused’ looks, to which Tony responded with an innocent grin as he took the food from Pepper’s hands. “You love me,” he said simply and made his way to the table they had claimed specifically for eating.

“Thanks Aunt Pepper!” Harley and Peter made their way over immediately digging into their burritos the way only teenage boys could.

Pepper rolled her eyes fondly at the title before taking a seat next to Tony, across from the boys. They had taken to calling her that originally as a joke, and very much to Tony’s amusement it stuck.

“Like I was saying,” Pepper began again as she took out her burger and fries, “You can’t spend all summer in here. It’s not healthy. And the last time I checked, summer camps involved being outside at least once a day.”

“Pep, Pepper, that’s why this is a science summer camp. The first part of that title implies experiments. Which then implies controlled environments. Which implies being inside,” Tony stated matter-of-factly before taking a bite out of his own burger. The boys nodded vigorously in agreement, unable to make a comment with their mouths full.

After the stress that the so-called ‘Civil War’ had caused for Tony, Pepper and Rhodey had forced him to take some kind of break to relax and clear his head. Tony did not do well with calm and quiet though, so he thought up something else – a science summer camp. Not only did he get to do what he loved, but he got educate two of the brightest boys he had ever met. And if anyone deserved this, it was Harley and Peter. Both had amazing skills for their ages and were capable of learning at an amazing pace. This way, he took a ‘break’ and got to nurture the bright minds of the future.

So, a couple of convincing arguments with parents and negotiations with Pepper later and he was hosting two teenage boys for a month. It had been a week and they’d only blown something up twice. All in all, he’d say he was doing a pretty good job. Still, Pepper and Rhodey made it a point to check-in on them once a day. That is, until Rhodey was an assistant to one of the explosions and Pepper became the primary warden. Bruce was there, coming from whatever hole he was hiding in a month after the Avenger's... disagreement, but Pepper didn’t trust him either since he was a scientist too and was prone to blowing things up with Tony.

Pepper huffed out a sigh. “Okay, then go do something science related outside. Like… take a field trip? The Smithsonian has science exhibits, right?”

All three males shared a look and burst out laughing. It was Peter that gained the ability to speak up first. “Aunt Pep, have you seen the stuff Mr. St- I mean Tony makes,” Peter said spreading his arms wide gesturing to the workshop around them. “The Smithsonian couldn’t hold a candle to the stuff we get to do here.”

At the unimpressed look Pepper gave him Peter immediately added, “Not that it wasn’t a good idea, it was a great idea. Really!”

“Stop scaring the children Pep, it’s not nice. Besides, you can do a lot more damage with that beautiful smile of yours,” Tony said smoothly. Pepper turned her glare on him, but she couldn’t help the light blush at his words which made Tony grin in triumph.

“Go to Central Park, have a picnic, I don’t care what you do,” Pepper paused, scrutinizing the looks on their faces, “Okay, scratch that, I do care what you do, but please go do something outside, with some fresh air and sunlight.”

All three pouted and looked at each other. They knew it was no use trying to go against Pepper, so they needed to figure out something to do.

“I’ve never seen the empire state building,” Harley suggested, then added, “Actually, this is my first time in New York City, so I’ve never seen any of the big landmarks really.”

Tony and Peter blinked. “Oh my god!” They both cried at the same time. How did they forget that Harley wasn’t from this city? “Okay,” Tony began, “All of today’s projects are cancelled. You are getting the grand tour. Pack your bags, make sure you use the washroom, we’re going on a field trip!”

It was quite the field trip. Of course, when you’re Tony Stark, you get to enjoy the extra perks that they don’t share with the public with little fuss, so it was a new experience for Harley and Peter too. He dressed down and wore sunglasses, people didn’t tend to recognize him without a suit on. Of course, it was the one moment that he did take his sunglasses off that people caught on camera.

The were finishing up their tour with a walk through Central Park. Hot dogs in hand like true Americans. It was late evening and the sun was setting so there weren’t many people around which was why Tony had put his glasses on the front of his shirt. Peter and Harley were walking in front of him talking about… well teenage things he guessed, because he didn’t recognize most of the topics. Until it got to school and they started talking about their crushes which of course had Tony rolling his eyes. “God, the teenage angst, this is why I didn’t have kids,” he said dryly, taking another bite of his hot dog.

The two boys suddenly stopped, making Tony come to an abrupt halt. They looked up at him with exaggeratedly hurt looks on their faces. “What?” He asked taking a step back as if preparing for an attack.

“But-but, but dad!” They cried out, which in turn made Tony lean further back with a bewildered look on his face. “I thought you loved us!” Harley said, exaggerating his pout even further. “I thought we were family! I thought you wanted to make things right dad!” Peter followed up.

“This, this isn’t what I thought it was going to be,” Tony said, deciding to play along. “I’m not ready to be your father. I’m sorry.” Tony ended with a dramatic flourish and began to run in the opposite direction, Tony and Harley chasing him down, calling out for their ‘Dad’ to come back. It didn’t take long for them to catch up, considering their youth and he was tackled into the grass, all of them laughing, and laughing even more when they realized that their hot dogs got sacrificed in their dramatics.

They were close to the edge of the park where the streets could be seen and more people were walking along the sidewalks. They made quite the spectacle, Tony was sure, but he hadn’t laughed like this in what felt like a very long time so he didn’t care to move.

“We love you dad.”

“Yeah, you can’t leave us. We need you.”

Tony felt his breath hitch at the sudden raw emotion. God, he was getting sentimental. Was he really that old. “Never,” he replied, “I would never leave you guys.” Tony blinked firmly, he really didn’t want to have a meltdown in the middle of Central Park. “Now get off me you big lugs, you weigh a ton,” he said once he could shove the emotion down. They were chuckling again as Tony proceeded to shove at them and stand up, dusting himself off. He put his glasses back on his face once he saw the attention they drew.  
“Sunglasses on kiddos, let’s head home.”

 

_Present_

 

And that brought them to this moment. Tony sighed resignedly when he realized the news was not going to change. Most of it was speculation on when and with who he could have had the kids with. Some people were calling bullshit – _Smart people, people I now respect_ – but many more believed the pictures. The media was taking it as a sign of maturity from him – owning up to his past and all that. Once he got over the initial shock of it, he could admit that it was pretty hilarious. Even if the cruel irony of him ever being capable of being a father was at the back of his mind. He looked at the two kids, they didn’t show a hint of disdain for being called his children, in fact they looked like they were having the time of their lives right now.

 

Tony figured it wouldn’t hurt to let this particular story linger for a while.


	2. What the Fugitives Don't Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second part of "Tony Stark is a Dad?" featuring Team Cap's reaction to the news and a little something at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back! I feel like I've been gone a really long time, but it's only been a couple of weeks. I had school stuff to deal with, still do since it's getting closer to exams, BUT! A user here, "thejester" requested Team Cap's reaction and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what to write for Team Cap, and then I had sudden inspiration and decided to write it before it left me. Writing just Team Cap made me itch a little so you get a little extra something at the end too. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, I just realized that the user that requested this thought it would be hilarious, ahaha... um... I'm sorry?

Steve’s eyes roamed the landscape before him, the trained eyes of an artist catching every detail. His sketchbook and pencils laid on the table in front of him as he looked out from his place on the balcony of his team’s wing in the palace. This was how he spent most days now. Being the leader of the Avengers didn’t leave him for much time to dedicate to his hobby, but he had been able to get back into the groove during the past few months is Wakanda.

It was nice to have a place to stay and not worry about anyone coming after them. T’Challa had granted the sanctuary and Steve would be forever grateful for that. At least he had one person he could trust outside of his team.

Steve huffed a sigh and closed his sketchbook. He really did wish things could have went down differently, but Bucky was his best friend and he could not let him get hurt. If he had gone Tony’s way, Bucky would be dead by now. Steve knew he did what was best.

Picking up his sketchbook he headed back to his room, passing one of the cleaning staff on the way there. He always made sure to greet anyone he saw, but the staff never returned the greeting. They wouldn’t even glance at him, really. Just speed by as if no one was there. Steve thought it was probably a custom for the staff to not interact with guests. Still, a little acknowledgement would be nice.

After putting his sketching items away, he started towards the kitchen for lunch. He stopped by Clint’s room to see if the man was in but paused with his knuckles to the door, about the knock, when he heard Clint speaking. He immediately realized who Clint was speaking to by his tone of voice.

“I promise I’ll be home soon, sweetheart.” There was a pause before Clint spoke again. “I don’t know exactly when but,” there was another pause where he was interrupted – by his daughter if Steve had to guess – and then Clint replied in a soft tone that Steve would never think the man was capable of, “Of course I’ll be home for your 10th birthday, Lila. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

At that, Steve took a step back from the man’s door, and continued on his path. He didn’t know when Lila’s birthday was, but it had to be soon if she was bringing it up. They’d been in Wakanda for nearly three months, but there was no sign of the Accords going away. There was no sign of Tony either.

Steve reached into his pocket and grasped the phone. He always had it on him, just in case. He didn’t want to miss Tony when he called. He knew better than to expect anything at just three months – Tony was just as stubborn as he was – but he had begun to wonder. Aside from a statement Tony made about a week after Siberia, there had been no other sign of the man in the news. Which, Steve probably wouldn’t consider odd if every story or event announcement wasn’t immediately followed up by, “Which Tony Stark will not be attending this year even though he has attended every year.”

Usually when Tony disappeared, it meant he was creating something. Steve had to worry. If Tony had locked himself in his workshop, after everything that’s happened he was definitely going to act without thinking. Tony was regularly impulsive and rash, doing things and making decisions without consulting anyone else. Steve was worried about what Tony might do now, without the rest of the team there to stop him. Vision could only do so much, and they had heard from King T’Challa that Rhodey was paralyzed. According to news reports, there was a search for Natasha along with the rest of them…

Steve voiced his concerns to his team after lunch. They were all sitting in the family room. Clint was teaching Wanda a card game, using the floor as their seat. Scott was sprawled out on one of the couches, using the remote to search through the channels, while Sam was sitting with Steve on one of the couches.

“We all know that it’s going to happen,” Sam said. “It’s just a matter of when.”

“Yeah,” Clint added in, “They’ll need us to come clean up his mess, realize you were right, and we’ll be home free.”

Steve let out a sigh and tilted his head back, resting it on the back of the couch. “Yeah, I know. I just wish he would call us before it gets to that point.”

Wanda snorted. “You know his ego won’t allow him to do that,” she paused, putting all her cards down which caused Clint to groan in defeat before gathering the cards to shuffle them again. “He’ll let the world burn before he tries to admit his own wrongs.”

“Aside from all that, the world needs the Avengers. I’m sure we’ll…” Sam was interrupted by Scott spitting out his water. Everyone turned to look at the man and saw he was staring at the TV. Scott turned up the volume and when Steve finally took notice of what was on the TV – Well, shocked would be putting it lightly.

_‘Tony Stark and his allegedly two sons are still the trending topic today. It has been a few hours since these pictures have come out, and we still have yet to hear from Stark Industries, or the man himself.’_

The anchor continued talking, but Steve was too focused on the pictures being shown on the screen to listen. One was a side view Tony, with two teenagers walking in front of him in the middle of a conversation. The three of them were eating hotdogs, and Steve could tell from the background that they were in Central Park. The second picture though, was the one Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of.

They had all somehow tumbled onto the grass. The two boys one either side of Tony looked at him with an adoration and respect that Steve didn’t think was possible for anyone to direct at Tony. However, the look on Tony’s face was what got Steve the most.

Tony was smiling. Like, really smiling. His eyes were bright with laughter, and he just looked so carefree. Steve had never seen this man before. Sure, he had seen Tony smile, more-so when he was trying to work a crowd, but he never looked like this. Not with the team – Not with him. Steve looked through his memories, tried to pinpoint at least one time Tony had looked like that around any of them, but the only thing that came close was when Pepper was with him. The man in this photo was not someone Steve was familiar with.

“Is this real,” he found himself asking to the room. They had some sort of expert on the screen now, talking about the similarities between the two boys and Tony. Clint was the first to speak up.

“If it is, it’s no wonder he’s coming out with it now,” Clint said, failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice. “He fucked up and needs to make himself look good again. I wouldn’t put it past him to use his kids to do it.”

“For all we know he could have just paid those two to act the part. That sounds like something he would do,” Wanda followed up, doing nothing to hide the disdain in her voice, and already going back to focusing on the card game.

Sam looked like he was considering the whole story. “I mean, I don’t know anyone who would willingly have Tony Stark’s child. Plus, being able to keep it hidden for so long that they’re now teenagers?” Sam shook his head. “No, this has to be a PR move.”

Scott looked around at all of them, and then back to the TV. “Would he really do that?” There were muttered “yeah’s” all around but Steve... Steve wasn’t so sure that Tony would. Sure, the man was a bit extensive, and quite the showman, but Steve couldn’t see him building a story to help his PR. However, he also never thought that Tony would just snap and force Steve to incapacitate him, so he couldn’t really be sure.

Scott simply shrugged and went back to flipping the channels, and everyone went back to doing their own thing. Steve, however, could not get that image out of his head. Was it possible to fake genuine happiness? Steve couldn’t be sure, but Tony always seemed to challenge the impossible, so maybe he was just that good at being a showman.

Still, when Steve went to his room that night and brought out his sketch book, the image of Tony’s face, the picture of happiness and warmth was still ingrained in his mind, down to every last detail. A picture of welcome and belonging that Steve would never admit to wishing for ever since he woke up in this time. A look that he hoped, someday soon, Bucky would be able to give him.

 

_Meanwhile…_

T’Challa settled down at his desk and loosened his tie. It had been a long day filled with meetings as Wakanda worked on integrating itself with the rest of the world. There was a lot of progress being made, but it would still take some time, and a lot of hard work.

T’Challa tilted his head back and forth, and rolled his shoulders to ease out some of the stiffness, before making his last call of the evening.

“Good evening, King T’Challa,” the female voice rang out. “How may I help you?”

“Good evening, FRIDAY,” he replied lightly. After a few times of speaking with the AI he had gotten used to speaking with her as he would with any other person. “Is Tony available to talk right now?”

He had been keeping in regular contact with Tony for most the past few months. It started when Tony somehow found a way to contact him to let T’Challa know that he knew he was harboring the Avengers. T’Challa had been ready to deny it. Of course, he knew Tony Stark would figure it out, but he didn’t think it would be right after Steve had broken the rest of the team out from the RAFT.

However, Tony had not contacted him to ask him to release the former Avengers. Instead, he said: “Look, they’re safer there than anywhere else right now. Ross is out for blood and is going to extreme lengths to find them. Just, make sure you do your best to keep them hidden. They’ll do a lot more damage than good if they go out there right now.”

T’Challa knew this, of course. It was one of the reasons he had offered to give them sanctuary. Aside from his debt to Barnes, he had fought them at the airport and had seen the damage they could do if they continued the path they were on. Keeping them in one place was the best option. So, of course he agreed to Tony’s request. After that they had kept in contact to go over the Accords, and soon he found himself asking for advice from Tony on certain matter. For all the media had portrayed the man with an arrogant, know-it-all attitude, Tony knew what he was doing, and he did his job very well. His insight had been of great help to T’Challa on many occasions.

Soon enough, Tony was asking him about Wakandan technology and now…

“Hey Kitty King!” Tony’s holographic image appeared in front of him, along with two others.

“Hi King T’Challa!” Peter and Harley said at the same time. All three of them had a buzzing energy that seemed to surround them which let T’Challa know they had just finished up a successful experiment.

“It looks like you three have been busy,” T’Challa smiled at the three before glancing at the time. “But isn’t it midnight there? Shouldn’t the kids be in bed?”

Tony looked genuinely shocked, while Peter and Harley pouted behind him.

“You weren’t supposed to say anything,” Peter said with a tone that implied that should have been obvious.

“We could’ve gotten at least another hour out of him,” Harley huffed in exasperation. T’Challa chuckled slightly when Tony crossed his arms and turned to face the two boys.

“Okay, if Pepper asks, you were in bed at like 10,” Tony stated conspiratorially. “Now off to bed with you two. And I mean sleep. FRIDAY will let me know if you’re playing videogames or plotting to take over the world.”

Both boys gave an exaggerated pout, but still gave Tony a hug and said their goodnight’s before heading out of the workshop.

“I guess the rumours are true,” T’Challa said lightly when Tony had turned back around to face him.

Tony arched an eyebrow and levelled a look at the King. “You should know better than to believe everything you hear pretty kitty,” Tony practically purred at him. “But just to clarify: Which rumour are we talking about?”

T’Challa leaned back into his chair, getting more comfortable. “Your illegitimate sons seem quite happy to be with you.

Tony snorted, disappearing off frame for a second and coming back with a chair to sit on. “I still can’t believe that’s trending right now.”

“Do you plan to make a statement?”

“Yeah, Pepper wants me to make it as soon as possible. The boys were having a lot of fun with it though so I decided to leave it alone for today.”

Tony picked up a bottle of water and began drinking it. To think it was just a couple weeks ago that they would be having a conversation and Tony would be picking up a glass of scotch. The corners of T’Challa’s lips lifted slightly.

“You look a lot better than when I last saw you,” T’Challa mentioned honestly. “The boys are keeping you out of trouble.”

He watched as Tony nearly choked on the water to laugh. “Pepper would beg to differ.” Tony cleared his throat. “Well, on the trouble part, but I thought I always looked good, Tom?” Tony pouted slightly.

“Tom?” T’Challa inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. You know, that cat from Tom and Jerry?” At the unimpressed look T’Challa gave him, he felt the need to defend himself. “Look, I’ve been taking care of two teenaged boys for over a week now. Excuse me if I’m a little off my game.”

“I’m not sure I accept that excuse,” T’Challa replied light-heartedly. “From what I’ve seen, you’ve had no trouble taking good care of them.”

“Well, Pepper checks in regularly –”

“Because you made things explode,” T’Challa interjected.

“ – And Brucie is here now… And that was only two times!”

“In one week.”

“They were in a controlled environment!”

T’Challa scrutinized him until he shifted uncomfortably.

“Okay, at least one of them were,” Tony muttered begrudgingly.

T’Challa leaned forwards towards the hologram, resting his elbows on the desk and lacing his fingers together. “You make a good dad, Tony.”

Tony blinked, and then grinned with the confidence of a show-man. “Flattery will get you everywhere kitty-cat.”

“I mean it, Tony.”

The grin faded, and T’Challa watched as the man pulled his bottom lip between his teeth the way he always did when he received a genuine compliment.

“Yeah, well…” Tony trailed off. “Hey, how about you come down here and put yourself in my shoes for a bit. I bet they’d like the challenge Wakandan science would give them.”

T’Challa smiled widely. “I would be happy to join you. I have a short break in a couple of days that I could use to visit.”

This time when Tony smiled, it was the smile that made eyes bright and crinkled at the corners, filled with warmth and genuine happiness. “If you’re lucky we’ll consider you cool enough to join our science bros club.”

T’Challa laughed. “I look forward to proving myself to you Mr. Stark.”

“You better bring you’re A-game then, Your Highness.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoyed that? I still suck at chapter titles, but hopefully the story was good. I had a lot of trouble getting the first three paragraphs to sound the way I wanted them to, I actually wrote the middle before I wrote the beginning, but hopefully everything made sense. Also, I hope my bitterness towards Team Cap didn't show too much - I was really upset with the way everyone on that team + Natasha was written in CW - so I hope I wasn't too harsh.
> 
> BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE AWESOMENESS THAT WAS DAD!TONY IN THE SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING TRAILER?!
> 
> /takes a deep breath/
> 
> Anyways, I have stockpiled about 4 Dad!Tony fics along with 3 others so hopefully I get those finished soon and out, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this! Leave kudos and commentary, please!


End file.
